Some Exercise Successes

It’s been a few days since I’ve posted anything, and that’s because I’ve been busy lately, but I happy to report that I haven’t been neglecting my own health or weight-loss efforts.

I just finished 48 minutes on the recumbent bike in the gym in my building, but it seemed like hours because my iPod was out of juice – I forgot to charge it last night. I did have a couple magazines that I flipped through (the new Entertainment Weekly and my college alumni magazine), and I also chatted with a neighbor for a few minutes before he headed out on a power walk around the neighborhood.

My building has a lot of units in it, but despite living here for over a year and a half, I don’t know too many of my neighbors. I’m friends with the folks in two units in my corner of the building, and they’re great, but apart from them, there’s a handful of people I nod to in the elevator, and a bunch of people I’ve met at some point, only to forget their names the next time I see them months later.

So I was really flattered and surprised when I guy I chatted to today, Don, complimented me on my weight loss! “You’ve lost a lot of weight, haven’t you?” he said. “Yeah, I have!” I responded, while all the gears in my head were frantically turning, because I wasn’t sure I’d even seen this guy before. Apparently, he’s seen me though! My weight loss journey began about 2 months after I moved into this place, so he’s paid attention, too! “How much have you lost?” Don asked, and his jaw dropped when I responded with my 164 pound total. What a nice moment. Compliment aside, I enjoyed talking with Don, and he’s definitely added to my short (but getting longer) Friends in my Building List. There’s a building BBQ coming up soon – maybe I’ll see him there.

In other news, I just pulled out my calendar to update my last few workouts on it, and I realized that I’ve now worked out the past 6 days in a row. Nice! A definite improvement over the 6 days prior, which only had 2 workouts in it. This 6-day stretch started with Craig’s Boot Camp Class on Tuesday, two days of cardio on Wednesday and Thursday, a Friday workout that was mostly weights, Richard Simmons’ class at Slimmons on Saturday, and then today’s bike.

I also just realized that there are two other exercise-related successes from a few weeks ago that I never blogged about. Unacceptable! So I’m gonna write about one today, and write about one tomorrow.

Today’s success is StairMaster-related: I have another building to add to my skyscraper collection! In case you don’t know, my motivational tool to use the StairMaster (which I don’t enjoy very much) is to equate my workouts to various skyscrapers around the world. You can click here to see all the skyscrapers I’ve “climbed” since I started keeping track in the fall. And on Friday, June 3rd, I got on the StairMaster for 15 minutes, and ended up climbing 79 stories – the second-highest amount of stories I’ve ever climbed (the highest amount of stories is 80)!

Here’s the building I’m adding to my skyscraper collection:

Does it look familiar? It’s the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, Michigan. This building has popped in my blog before. The center tower is 73 stories, and in the fall, I set a goal to climb 73 stories on the StairMaster, with the reward being a visit to the tower to eat the fancy restaurant on the top floor (a visit I took with my Dad in December, which you can read about here). But when I completed the workout where I reached that goal, I ended up climbing 80 stories, so I added the CITIC Plaza in China, which is also 80 stories, to my collection. Even though a few weeks ago I climbed 79 stories, today I’m adding the 73-story Ren Cen to the collection. It’s the tallest building in Detroit, the tallest building in Michigan, the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere, and from 1977-1986, it was the tallest hotel in the world.

Since it’s now been over 2 weeks since my last StairMaster workout, I’m due for another one. Ugh. I don’t look forward to them, but I love the skyscraper research that comes after.

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In A Nutshell

A big hello to everyone that's discovering Keep It Up, David for the first time! I'm glad you're here.

My name is David. I live in Los Angeles, and I'm 35 years old. In January 2010, I began eating better and exercising more, so I could lose weight. So far, so good - I've lost and kept off 160 pounds! But it's a tough road, and I need to keeping finding new ways to keep motivated and on-track. I'll blog about my progress and share my struggles and successes. Join me on my journey!